lte1 not selectable for dhcp-client

oly · October 29, 2020, 5:38pm

Hello everybody,

I have myself a MikroTik “LtAP LTE Kit” running RouterOS v6.47.6.
I managed to connct to LTE (by entering the SIM PIN and the respective data to the APN setting) but i can’t for the life of me connect to anywhere via LTE.

I also wondered why I cannot select the “lte1” interface in the dhcp-client, it only gives me ether1 and wlan1 as options. If i try to add the interface manually, i get

> ip dhcp-client add interface=lte1 
input does not match any value of interface

I do get an IP address and I also get a default route with the below settings, but traceroute stops after the first hop:

[admin@MikroTik] > tool traceroute address=8.8.8.8 count=1 
 # ADDRESS                          LOSS SENT    LAST     AVG    BEST   WORST STD-DEV STATUS                                                        
 1                                  100%    1 timeout                                                                                               
 2 139.7.228.140                      0%    1  49.8ms    49.8    49.8    49.8       0 network unreachable from 139.7.228.140                        
 3                                    0%    0     0ms

I should mention that the SIM is a Vodafone CDA type, so in theory I should be able to connect from the Internet to the router via LTE (which is what I ultimately want - the router should serve as a remote access device for an existing installation)

What i did so far (with sensitive information replaced by XXX):

interface lte set pin=XXXX lte1
interface lte apn set apn=m2m.cda5.vodafone.de authentication=chap user=XXXX password=XXXX numbers=0

what i get after a few seconds:

[admin@MikroTik] > interface print detail 
Flags: D - dynamic, X - disabled, R - running, S - slave 
 0  R  name="ether1" default-name="ether1" type="ether" mtu=1500 actual-mtu=1500 l2mtu=1596 max-l2mtu=2026 mac-address=74:4D:28:9C:60:4D link-downs=0 
 1  X  name="wlan1" default-name="wlan1" type="wlan" mtu=1500 actual-mtu=1500 l2mtu=1600 max-l2mtu=2290 mac-address=74:4D:28:9C:60:4E link-downs=0 
 2  R  name="lte1" type="lte" mtu=1480 actual-mtu=1480 mac-address=AC:FF:FF:00:00:00 last-link-up-time=jan/02/1970 00:02:23 link-downs=0

[admin@MikroTik] > interface lte info 0 once 
           pin-status: ok
  registration-status: registered
        functionality: full
         manufacturer: "MikroTik"
                model: "R11e-LTE"
             revision: "MikroTik_CP_2.160.000_v013"
     current-operator: vodafone.de
                  lac: 48058
       current-cellid: XXX
               enb-id: 83178
            sector-id: 21
           phy-cellid: 252
    access-technology: Evolved 3G (LTE)
       session-uptime: 36s
                 imei: XXX
                 imsi: XXX
                 uicc: XXX
               earfcn: 101 (band 1, bandwidth 10Mhz)
                 rsrp: -102dBm
                 rsrq: -9dB
                 sinr: 12dB

The IP address of lte1 seems to be correct, at least it’s the same one as in the vodafone customer portal:

[admin@MikroTik] > ip address print detail 
Flags: X - disabled, I - invalid, D - dynamic 
 0 D address=10.0.0.3/32 network=10.0.0.3 interface=lte1 actual-interface=lte1

And i also have a default route, but as shown above, traceroute fails, so this may be the culprit?

[admin@MikroTik] > ip route print detail 
Flags: X - disabled, A - active, D - dynamic, C - connect, S - static, r - rip, b - bgp, o - ospf, m - mme, 
B - blackhole, U - unreachable, P - prohibit 
 0 ADS  dst-address=0.0.0.0/0 gateway=lte1 gateway-status=lte1 reachable distance=2 scope=30 target-scope=10 
 1 ADC  dst-address=10.0.0.3/32 pref-src=10.0.0.3 gateway=lte1 gateway-status=lte1 reachable distance=0 scope=10

So from here I would like to assign a dhcp-client to lte1, but it win’t let me and I honestly don’t know why …

SiB · October 29, 2020, 10:28pm

When in APN setting you disable receive IP / DNS from ISP then you should create own DHCP Client.
By Routing > Filters you can modify in fly the every new dynamic route…
This works, you receive IP and Route - this is not a problem here.

And i also have a default route, but as shown above, traceroute fails, so this may be the culprit?

Some ISP create limits, but you should try read Tools > SMS and maybe you in Inbox can read some SMS like “Not pay, we block but you still can connect to empty internet”

I > do > get an IP address and I also get a default route with the below settings, but traceroute stops after the first hop:
model: “R11e-LTE”
revision: “MikroTik_CP_2.160.000_v013”

YES, please upgrade a modem firmware !
This should be your solution for that module.

Latest: MikroTik_CP_2.160.000_v018
https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Interface/LTE
Some person must do a dhcp-client at ethernet port and Receive internet from cable to can upgrade modem firmware, first try by internal lte connection.

oly · October 30, 2020, 8:04am

Hello SIB,

thank you very much for your support! :-)))
But I currently don’t seem to understand how to upgrade the modem firmware via ethernet?

I don’t have a problem hooking the ethernet up to my LAN and giving it an IP address via dhcp, so now a

/tool traceroute www.google.de

works just fine (over ethernet).

But the firmware upgrade only seems to work via LTE?
What I tried:

[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte firmware-upgrade lte1 
failure: Device must be enabled and configured!
[admin@MikroTik] > interface lte set pin=XXXX lte1
[admin@MikroTik] > interface lte firmware-upgrade lte1  
  installed: MikroTik_CP_2.160.000_v013
     latest: MikroTik_CP_2.160.000_v018
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte firmware-upgrade lte1 upgrade=yes 
failure: Device must be in running state!
[admin@MikroTik] > interface lte apn set apn=m2m.cda5.vodafone.de authentication=chap user=XXX password=XXX numbers=0
[admin@MikroTik] > interface lte print
Flags: X - disabled, R - running 
 0  R name="lte1" mtu=1480 mac-address=AC:FF:FF:00:00:00 pin="8200" 
      apn-profiles=default network-mode=gsm,3g,lte 
[admin@MikroTik] > /interface lte firmware-upgrade lte1 upgrade=yes        
status: downloading via LTE connection
status: failed

I couldn’t find anything in this forum or via google, except a mention in http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/lte-modem-firmware-upgrade/134889/1 which says

The modem is switched to a specific mode where it downloads the firmware itself. RouterOS does not have network connection at that time!

so is an upgrade via ethernet possible at all?

Also, I can see there is an option “firmware-file=” for /interface lte firmware-upgrade, but where do i get the actual firmware upgrade? Google couldn’t find anything

Thank you again in advance!

oly · October 30, 2020, 8:15am

BTW:
/tool sms inbox print

is empty

SiB · October 30, 2020, 8:46am

I do the trick like

lte1 is connected, Running
APN Settings not add a default gateway - means this lte1 is for itself and RouterOS not have internet from it.
I provide internet from ethernet like that RBoard was a regular PC. Dhcp-client have a add default route and RouterOS have got a internet from ethernet
and then I try upgrade firmware - some ppl report me that works.

You can write to support@mikrotik.com or go to support portal at mikrotik.com/support and create a case. They can share you a firmware as files to upgrade via external usb wwan adapter for mPCIe lte modules.

nico456 · January 1, 2021, 11:09am

Hi

I have the exact same problem, after upgrading the Modem firmware, still no way to select lte for DHCP client
Did you solve this ?
Thanks

SiB · February 23, 2021, 12:01am

nico456

At answer #2 I write that LtAP with internal mPCIe slot lte module not use a regular “dhcp-client” but a LTE APN works as “dhcp-client future”.
You should just use proper APN Profile configuration and it’s all.

Give us export / print from /interface lte submenu and I can help but in this post the title is wrong.

brg3466 · March 16, 2021, 5:33am

Same problem +1 !

I have a ltAP mini LTE US version and cannot select lte1 as the interface for dhcp-client.

SiB · March 19, 2021, 2:43pm

because YOU NOT USE DHCP-CLIENT here !
dhcp-client works for some USB doungle LTE modems who emulate Ethernet2USB…

CONFIGURE the APN Setting !
Go to Interface > LTE > and here you have all you need

brg3466 · March 22, 2021, 4:30am

solved !
I wiped out all the configurations and use quick-set “LTE AP” and under IP>DHCP-client, you can see the lte1 is configured as DHCP-client, though its status is “stopped”.

But I still don’t know why I cannot select it as DHCP-client before.

mkx · March 22, 2021, 6:47am

Which part of answer by @SiB is not clear? LTE interface (or mobile broadband interfaces in common) don’t need DHCP client running to get IP address from ISP. That’s handled automatically when modem is registering to the network (modem can’t be registered to the network without having at least one IP address). As DHCP client would not be able to get IP address via such interface anyway (because such interface doesn’t support L2 traffic, it only supports IP traffic … and IPv6 if both modem and network support it), it can’t be started … and that’s a good thing because it avoids some confusion (not in your case obviously).